CCR2 talks with IBM Distinguished Engineer Jeff Josten about IBM DB2 9 for z/OS: The database for your next wave of enterprise and SOA applications
from CCR2, Issue 9 - 2006
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"Our customers play a big role in determining our release content," says Jeff Josten in this month's CCR2 interview about DB2 9 for z/OS. Get the scoop on the upcoming release and learn how you can prepare yourself for higher transaction volumes and the growing demand for data warehousing while holding the line on costs. You can also learn more about DB2 9 at this year's DB2 Technical Conference, being held as part of the IBM Information on Demand event in Anaheim, California, the week of October 15.
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CCR2: Customers are beta testing IBM DB2 9 for z/OS. How will migrating to DB2 9 compare to IBM DB2 Universal Database V8 for z/OS, which was released in 2004?
Jeff Josten: DB2 V8 for z/OS was a watershed release that delivered loads of new SQL functionality, converted the catalog to a native UNICODE format, and re-structured the engine for 64-bit . Because the catalog was significantly re-structured in V8, we introduced a two-step migration process where first you go from V7 to a V8 "compatibility mode" and then to the V8 "new function mode." Our customers told us they liked the control enabled by the two-step process, so we will keep it in DB2 9. V8 is the prerequisite release for migrating to DB2 9.
CCR2: Tell us about what's new in DB2 9 for z/OS.
JJ: Our customers play a big role in determining our release content, and DB2 9 will attack their request list. In addition, DB2 for z/OS plays a significant role in Information on Demand, IBM's vision for getting the right information to the right people at the right time. As a result, DB2 9 for z/OS will encompass four major themes: enabling high volume processing for the next wave of Web applications; enhancing the traditional DB2 for z/OS strengths of reliability, availability, scalability, and performance; cutting total cost of ownership (TCO); and enhancing DB2 for data warehousing, a fast growing segment of DB2 for z/OS usage.
CCR2: High volume processing, building on DB2's strengths, cutting TCO, and data warehousing. That's quite a list. Let's start from the top.
JJ: High volume processing enhancements mainly encompass SQL capabilities required by new applications. We've built upon SQL capabilities in V8 that enable an application developer to use practically any programming language in any development environment. In addition, we work closely with major application vendors, such as SAP, to ensure that DB2 for z/OS continues as a premier database server. It is also important to maintain DB2 family compatibility across all the platforms, so that you can write an application that runs on DB2 for Linux, for example, and easily port it to z/OS. DB2 9 will make significant advances in all of these initiatives.
Probably the most significant item in DB2 9 will be a native XML data type that will allow applications to store XML documents in a native, hierarchical format. IBM's native XML technology, which we code-named Viper but now call pureXML, is a big step forward for DB2 customers moving to SOA environments.
In addition to XML, we will have a new SQL MERGE statement that DB2 applications can use to insert or update DB2 data more easily and efficiently. Other new SQL capabilities will include SELECT FROM UPDATE/DELETE/MERGE, a new APPEND option for fast INSERT, a new SQL statement called TRUNCATE, and FETCH CONTINUE for retrieving Large Objects (LOBs) faster. New data types include DECIMAL FLOAT, BIGINT, BINARY and VARBINARY. New data definition language (DDL) statements, such as an implicit CREATE TABLE, will help you run DDL unchanged when porting between platforms.
CCR2: DB2 9 for z/OS will hold both pureXML and relational data structures? How will that work?
JJ: We'll deliver DB2 9 for z/OS as a hybrid data server for both XML and relational data. DB2 9 stores XML data in a binary encoded format in a natural hierarchy different from relational data. This is native XML – with indexing, query syntax and schema validation built in. So DB2 can act as either an XML or relational database depending on each application's need. pureXML technology will span the IBM DB2 family.
CCR2: The SQL and XML enhancements in DB2 9 for z/OS will provide a powerful combination. Many CCR2 readers run transactions around the clock for global businesses, and their window for planned maintenance is small. Does DB2 9 for z/OS address 24x7 operations better than DB2 V8?
JJ: Yes. DB2 for z/OS has a heritage of supporting reliability, availability, scalability and performance, with each version stronger than the last. Failure outages are extremely rare on System z, but customers still have to take DB2 down for maintenance. DB2 9 will cut out or reduce many types of planned outages. We've expanded the capability for online schema changes – you'll be able to rename columns, indexes or schemas on the fly. You can quickly replace one copy of a table with another online. And a new table space organization will enable DB2 to dynamically add partitions as a table grows; in the past, you had to take the database offline to convert to a partitioned organization if the table grew large.
We've also removed the BUILD2 phase from online reorganization, which gets you much better availability – the customers I've talked to are thrilled with the new reorg. In addition, an online REBUILD INDEX function will be provided.
CCR2: The IBM System z9 cuts planned outages – and so does DB2 9 for z/OS -- that's great news. You mentioned that DB2 9 can reduce TCO. For the past several years, IT organizations have been asked to do more with static budgets. How will DB2 9 help them?
JJ: We're hearing from customers that they are spending more and more person hours dealing with regulatory compliance issues. The more security we can build into the database, the less labor it takes to manage compliance. One of the ways we will address this in DB2 9 for z/OS is a new capability for a trusted context and database roles, so that an application server's shared user ID and password can be limited to work only from a specific physical server. That way if someone hacks into your application server and gets the DB2 password, they can't take it and get into your DB2 data from another place in the network. Trusted context and roles will help in many other scenarios as well.
We're also increasing security through encryption. In the payment card industry, IT organizations are required to encrypt DB2 data that's in tables, indexes, image copies and even logs, which can create a performance drag. With DB2 9, you'll be able to use System z disk and tape controllers to encrypt the data at rest on these devices, and System z has advanced capabilities to centrally manage all of the encryption keys. By offloading the encryption work to the storage devices, you can save a lot of server processing power.
We're also making it easier to secure data over the wire; DB2 9 will encrypt data with secure sockets layer (SSL), eliminating a point of data interception. And improved auditing will give you more granularities in what kind of audit traces you collect; for example, you can selectively audit the read requests to see who's accessing the data – in the past you were only able to audit data updates.
CCR2: Increased security will ease compliance headaches. Another challenge for many of our readers is the difficulty in hiring staff with mainframe skills. Is DB2 9 for z/OS easier to use?
JJ: Absolutely. One of the biggest skill savers in DB2 9 is volume-level backup and recovery enhancements. System level backup and recovery, which uses volume-level FlashCopy under the covers, was introduced in V8, and customers have requested the ability to use tape for the backups and to restore at the object level from the volume level backups. DB2 9 will deliver both.
CCR2: Mainframe veterans and new administrators alike should save time with the new tape archive and restore. IBM System z9 Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) also adds value to the data center. How can zIIPs help IT departments running DB2 for z/OS?
JJ: zIIP is the most recent offering in a line of System z specialty engines that includes the IBM Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL), IBM Internal Coupling Facility (ICF), and IBM System z Application Assist Processor (zAAP) for Java processing. Now for DB2 data serving on z/OS, we have zIIPs. These specialty processors free up general computing capacity, and their workloads are not subject to a per MIPS charge, so zIIPs can improve price/performance.
zIIPs target three types of DB2 work: parallel processing for large complex queries; DB2 utilities for index maintenance; and requests that come into DB2 via TCP/IP and distributed relational data architecture (DRDA), the protocol for client server communications between distributed and z/OS systems. About 40 percent of the DB2-related MIPS used in a typical SAP installation, for example, could be eligible to run on a zIIP, since the SAP applications use TCP/IP and DRDA. DB2 V8 for z/OS supports zIIPs; in DB2 9, SQL stored procedures will become eligible for zIIPs when called from DRDA.
CCR2: More built-in security, simpler restores, and offloading MIPS to zIIPs sound like great ways for IBM clients to reduce TCO with DB2 9. You also mentioned enhancements for data warehousing. What should we expect?
JJ: DB2 9 for z/OS will introduce several new capabilities that will be useful for data warehousing applications. There are new SQL enhancements including INTERSECT, EXCEPT, RANK, caseless comparisons, cultural sort, and FETCH FIRST in a fullselect. Index compression will save disk space, especially in warehousing systems where there are typically more indexes defined. There are also query optimization improvements, and a new capability called Optimization Service Center, which provides a full set of tools to monitor and tune query performance. QMF customers will value the new capabilities in QMF V9, including drag and drop querying, executive dashboards, data visualization, and enhanced OLAP with DB2 Cube Views.
CCR2: Thank you for sharing DB2 9 with CCR2 readers. Will you be at the upcoming DB2 Tech conference?
JJ: Yes, I will be there. DB2 for z/OS will have a strong presence at the DB2 Information Management Technical Conference (DB2 Tech), which will be held as part of the IBM Information on Demand 2006 event in Anaheim, California the week of October 15. There are many sessions scheduled for V9, V8 and zIIPs. I hope to see many CCR2 readers there.
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